i am not spartacus
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/rcmu5du2jkw” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] The troubled NYCO tries a new approach.
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at least her jewels are
Watching the Richard Tucker Gala just now, La Cieca is reminded to something she said to a companion after an early Diana Damrau Met performance (Ariadne, she thinks it was.) What La Cieca said was, “Well, you can send all the others home, because we’ve found our Neely O’Hara!”
once moor with feeling
La Cieca knows that one should not judge any work by the odd snippet, but she’s going to go out on a limb here and predict that Frédéric Chaslin‘s Wuthering Heights will be the next big camp opera in the “Technicolor Twaddle” tradition of The Ghosts of Versailles and The First Emperor. Update: the videos […]
iphigenie unconscious
La Cieca hears that Violeta Urmana fainted only an hour before tonight’s performance of Iphigénie en Tauride in Valencia. She decided to soldier on but then collapsed onstage after the interval. American soprano Jennifer Check finished the performance.
vil milanese
The season at La Scala continues under the guidance of Daniele Gatti.
putting it mildly
Tim Ashley in the Guardian Unlimited writes: When Hansel and Gretel are out of the house, their parents (Thomas Allen and Elizabeth Connell) prepare to have sex on one of the children’s beds, and we recognise the potential for deeply inappropriate behaviour lurking behind this family’s facade. And speaking of deeply inappropriate behaviour, is Anja […]
more news from the indian burial mound
Texted from the Met a few minutes ago: During act 2 (still going on) a stage hand walked out in the middle of Tristan and Isolde’s first duet to move her yellow gown away from the torch and ensure it didn’t light! Meier and Seiffert just kept singing…
divan decadence
Our Own Gualtier Maldè reports: Not every opera has to be a masterpiece. I couldn’t subsist on a steady diet of Tristan und Isolde, Die Zauberfloete, Fidelio, plus Otello, Falstaff et al. Frankly the occasional light comic bonbon or trashy but fun melodramatic tunefest makes a nice palate cleanser. I am talking Adriana Lecouvreur, La […]
dante missed this one
So La Cieca is in moderate agony today since she chipped a tooth. She was eating turkey on white bread with mayo when it happened, which gives you some idea of your doyenne’s dental fragility, not to mention ethnic blandness, but that’s not the point of this story. You may recall that at least once […]
wie sie selig
Wunderfrau Waltraud Meier sings Isolde at the Met tomorrow night, replacing the ailing Katarina Dalayman. Peter Seiffert will go on as Tristan.
tina, gib mir das beil!
Much as La Cieca would like to believe that this photo represents a scene from a new opera entitled Meine liebe Rabenmutter, alas, it’s just plain old Zauberflöte as performed at a Berlin subway station. This image of Darleen Ann Dobisch was chosen one of Reuters Entertainment’s “Images of the Year” for 2008.
Die Hausfrau ohne Schatten
[The headline above replaces “Here am I, your special island! Come to me, come to me!” Congratulations Chacowhacko!]Â Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.
bargain bin
The Met website just announced this week’s set of winners in the “$25 Weekend Ticket” lottery. La Cieca counts 260 pairs of ducats awarded for the December 12 Tristan und Isolde and 50 for the following night’s Don Giovanni. Your doyenne is interested to hear if any of you cher public participated in this week’s […]
sign of lacroix
It turns out that La Cieca’s fanciful prediction (of what Renée Fleming would wear from the Christian Lacroix collection) was not so far off after all! More images from the Met’s Thaïs after the jump.Â
an original cc
Counter Critic eschews false modesty long enough to offer a proposal for the New York City Opera.
a me roberti e il giudice del fischio
Extended clips of the La Scala Don Carlo as telecast on Sunday night — after the jump.
c’est thais, l’idole fragile qui vient pour la derniere chat
La Cieca thanks her cher public for joining her last night for yet another of your doyenne’s notorious online live chats. Starting at 7:45 PM, La Cieca and approximately 50 members of the parterre posse indulged in a little catty camaraderie during the Sirius and RealNetworks broadcast of Massenet’s fin-de-siècle fantasia. UPDATE (Friday): La Cieca’s […]
anyone can whistle
Glimpses of last night’s Don Carlo prima at La Scala:
one million dollars!
A foundation created by the late soprano Birgit Nilsson will award a prize of one million dollars this year to an “outstanding achievement of a concert or opera singer, a classical or opera conductor, or a specific production by an opera company.” The first award winner was chosen by Ms. Nilsson herself and the foundation […]
duetto buffo per uno gatti
Maestro Daniele Gatti enters the pit at La Scala for the second act of Don Carlo.
when divas collide
Next week in New York will be notable for more than just Renée Fleming‘s first local whack at Thaïs. In fact, the night of Wednesday December 10 promises the convergence of two of La Cieca’s favorite demoiselles of dementia, Jessye Normous and Dorothy Bishop performing within minute and blocks of each other. La Bishop’s show, […]
don deal
La Cieca has just heard that as of this afternoon, La Scala has dismissed Giuseppe Filianoti from their opening night new production of Don Carlos (scheduled for a worldwide telecast Sunday) and replaced him for the entire run of performances with American tenor Stuart Neill. Per La Cieca’s source, at the Thursday open dress rehearsal […]
meme chanson, meme refrain
“Belgian Gerard Mortier said Thursday he hopes to turn Madrid’s Teatro Real into one of Europe’s top opera houses when he takes over as artistic director, adding that many of his productions would be from the 20th century.” [via AFP]
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
